Bad Trader

Thanks for the warning. Maybe this thread will get him to follow through.

 

Guys, seriously. Why in the world would you (being a brand new member and new trader) send a box to another new member and new trader? The guy has absolutely no trade history, or feedback.

OP, I'm sorry you're out your beer and maybe in the end he'll come through, who knows - but this shouldn't have been done in the first place. Trade with reputable traders when you're starting out.

 

It blows my mind when i see 2 brand new traders trying to hash out a trade directly in a thread. I seriously want to comment on it, but figure its none of my business.

 

If you see something, say something.

 

Say what? You two shouldn't trade with each other? At what point does it become none of my business? We were ALL new at one point, but you just cant teach common sense. Some of the offers / posts speak volumes, I was on here browsing the trade forums, reading and learning as much as I could for at least 6 months (might have even been more) before I started trading...yet the forum is littered with members who are a month or two old, and clearly didn't take any time to do some research.

 

Say what? Just what you said.."I seriously want to comment on it, but figure its none of my business." I feel like it's the BA community business to help others out even with the inherent risk of trading since trading is such a big part of BA.

I agree with you. I haven't been on BA long at all, but I've learned a lot in that time doing similar things. I often find myself reviewing profiles when I see stuff that raises my eyebrows and wonder if the people realize what they are getting themselves into. They obviously don't since more and more threads like these are popping up.

 

True. Anyone can screw you. But as a new trader, I'd take my chances with someone who has a good rep on here and has been doing it for a long time, opposed to a guy who joined this summer with ZERO public history.

 

As the others stated, doesn't matter if a BA member is new or a veteran, there are still people out there that are going to screw you. Many of my first trades on here were with newer members. Its called mutual respect and trust when trading with others. If you are trading with a new member or older member, you're still taking the risk. You know what could happen. Its up to you whether or not you want to take that risk.

I don't think the other trading being new is variable to this situation as he posted a picture of the beer he received on here. Just seems to be the type of person he is. Wouldn't matter if he was a member since 2005 or 2013. Seems like people get so caught up on a members join date. Why does when you joined as a member on this site constitute for anything?

 

I have to disagree, A new member has much less invested in his reputation, and is less known by those local to him through tastings, releases and such. If I went rogue, there is a dozen or so guys that would be able to get in touch with me. Noobs could easily bail with minimal loss to their rep outside of BA

 

Its simple, who would you rather trust...a person who has dozens of positive feedback and references, and is / has been active for a few years....or a person who has zero posts, zero feedback or references, and is a complete unknown to this community.

 

In general the comments about trading with an established vet are true, but not absolute. My worst trade was with someone with an extensive trade history, even more than myself, and the whole thing turned into a bit of a clusterfuck. It can happen with any trader, although I'll agree that noob on noob trading is generally a bad idea.

 

Op, what beers are you out?

 

I have not hesitated to trade with anyone, old or new. Usually you can get a sense through private messages. I especially like helping new traders out. I will keep doing it event if I may one day end up "left holding the bag". Of the hundreds of trades each month, bad traders are far and few. It's just beer that you lost in the end, but it's bad karma he will never know when it will happen. Thanks for the heads up OP.

 

I understand the point you are trying to make, don't get me wrong. However, it seems like many are also using Instagram, Facebook, Ratebeer, Reddit amongst several other social media sites to stay active in the beer communty. From what I have seen, many typically use the same handle, which makes it fairly easy to identify them on another site. If your trading for the first time and your first trade is someone new on this site as well, ya may want to find out if they've ever traded beer in general and if they haven't give them some pointers. I was fortunate to come across several people like this. Some of my first trades were with new members as I mentioned, however they had traded previously through other outlets. Each of them asked me if I had traded before, and when I mentioned I hadn't, they all gave me some great information to help me in the trading process. All these trades took place purely on trust. They knew I had not traded before, yet still took the chance. That in my opinion is beer advocacy. Not the berating BA members seem to give new members these days. It's like a fucking fraternity and everyone wonders why the beer community has been turning into a shit show on social media. I'm not sure why everyone puts so much emphasis on your "reputation" around BA or the beer community for that matter. In the end, its just beer.

 

you have his address, you're from the same state, go get your beer!

 

No. In the end, it's money. Ultimately, someone stole your money. Plain and simple. And that, is bullshit.

 

I think its unfortunate you look at beer as money. To each their own I guess.